Urbis bill to soar as £5 fee is axed

URBIS will scrap its £5 admission charge on December 27 - but the cost of the controversial "museum of city life" to council tax payers is set to soar to £2m a year. The decision to make the Manchester attraction free to enter is expected to increase exhibition visitors fourfold.

URBIS will scrap its £5 admission charge on December 27 - but the cost of the controversial "museum of city life" to council tax payers is set to soar to £2m a year.

The decision to make the Manchester attraction free to enter is expected to increase exhibition visitors fourfold from a projected crisis level 46,000 in 2004/05.

Charges will be scrapped in favour of a donation box for visitors who only want to see the permanent exhibits. The first floor will be converted into 500 square metre space for four major temporary shows a year, for which customers will still have to pay. The alterations will cost £279,000.

The first "paid-for" show will start on January 23 and showcase the work of graphic designer Peter Saville, who was the art director at Factory Records in the heyday of Joy Division and New Order. More recently he has worked with bands Suede and Pulp as well as fashion designer Stella McCartney.

The loss of income from the £5 per adult, £3.50 per child charges means the overall cost to the city council of supporting the Millennium Quarter will be £1.93m in 2004/05.

That is almost entirely down to Urbis and compares with £2.06m under a "no change" scenario and a forecast £2.23m for this financial year.

The figures are contained in a council report that was due to be considered in private before an appeal by the Liberal Democrat opposition.

The estimated number of visitors to Urbis exhibitions for the whole of 2003/04 is 68,636 compared to the 136,158 that were expected.

'Not acceptable'

The forecast for 2004/05 is just 45,986. With no charge, it rises to 197,272 including 60,000 for the paid-for temporary shows.

"Now the subsidy is projected to remain the same for quite some time and we believe it is not acceptable.

"The fact is, charge or not, if people wanted to visit Urbis then they would."

Richard Leese, leader of the city council, said: "Clearly our intention is to reduce the level of subsidy. But it has also been our policy for a long time that the Manchester Art Gallery should be able to reduce its level of subsidy when it is actually going in the opposite direction.

"The reality is that running museums, galleries and visitor attractions is that they do require money. In terms of per-user cost Urbis will be the cheapest in the city."

Urbis, which opened in June 2002, has been under fire since former creative director Elizabeth Usher left "by mutual consent" in March.

The building has scooped several awards for its dramatic architecture but the contents - and the entry price - have been widely criticised. Visitor figures fell throughout the year and dipped to an average of just 179 paying visitors per day in April-June this year. Original financial projections were based on 444 visitors a day.

The Urbis team appointed American Scott Burnham as a new creative director in June and free exhibitions like the "Ill communication" graffiti show in September have been well received.